MICHELIN

 Michelin Maps

Although starting off making cycle tyres, which of course they still do, by the time of the first Michelin Handbook to Great Britain in 1911 they were aiming predominantly at the motorist. 1913 saw the publication of the southern England sheets of their road maps of the British Isles on the 1:200,000 (3¼” = 1 mile) scale, the same as that of their series of France. This falls within the scale range then in use for cycling. Full coverage of Great Britain and Ireland was intended by 1915. Initial prices were 1s on paper, 2s on ‘canvas’, soon increased to 1/6 and 3/- respectively.

The maps were a move away from typical maps of the period, which included much local detail and place names, and concentrated on providing information for the road user – they were some of the first true road maps of the modern era. Roads were divided into several classes, down to ‘impracticable’. Initial editions of the maps had attractive hill hachuring, a feature long abandoned by other map publishers in favour of contours. It must be said that, although less accurate in close-up detail, hachuring gives an instantaneous impression of the overall lie of the land that contours, unless accompanied with layered colouring, cannot give. It is particularly effective for the extract of Mid Wales shown below; an area of moorland interspersed with deep valleys.

Whilst helpful in showing distances, steep hills and spot heights, very few roads were actually shown other than main ones, so the maps would have been of limited value to cyclists seeking to tour an area in detail. Having said that, for those roads that were shown a considerable amount of information was given, more than on contemporary home-produced maps. There was an aura of informality in the maps, both in sheet names ('Lakes & Moors', ‘Westward Ho!’ and ‘English Riviera’), as well as Mr Bibendum cavorting in the sea on coastal sheets (sadly not retained on later editions).

The maps were novel in indicating scenic sections of road. Whilst on the subject of highlighting ‘scenic’ roads, usually by bordering one side of the road in green, I can’t say that I have found this of much benefit. It is usually confined to main roads, and the selection always seems very arbitrary. The Michelin maps, for example, excluded all roads in Snowdonia from the ‘scenic’ category, whilst awarding the accolade to many less-deserving sections of road in northeast Wales. Some roads are themselves attractive, tree-lined, gently winding and undulating: these are a pleasure to cycle along, regardless of the beauty or otherwise of the immediate landscape. We are lucky to have thousands of such roads in the British Isles. There are also roads, such as many in the west of Ireland, wire-fence lined and straight, which have no intrinsic attraction but open up views of distant hills and coast and so equally qualify as scenic. It is the value of a map such as Bartholomew’s with its indication of hills, woodland and the windings of a road that the cyclist can from it identify the most promising roads to ride.

By the nature of the Michelin maps, few ‘impractical’ (that is, for motorists) roads were indicated. Among those that were shown were that east from Tregaron to the Tywi valley, that from Teesdale north to Weardale at St John’s Chapel, and from Moffat Water across to the head of the Ettrick (a Barts ‘red-dotter’). The road from Newcastleton to Langholm, which had previously merely been ‘bad’, was later reduced to the status of track.

After WW1 the sheet boundaries were changed with increased (taller) sheet size; eighteen sheets (1 – 18) now covered Great Britain. These were soon renumbered 101 to 118 and the attractive hachuring was dropped leaving a rather empty-looking map, though MoT road numbers were duly added. Road categorisation was now ‘Main Through Routes’ (red), ‘Good Connecting Roads’ (yellow) and ‘Other metalled Roads’ (uncoloured). The very detailed information for such roads as were shown was retained. 1927 saw the opening of the Michelin tyre factory in Stoke on Trent, and henceforth maps gave the company address as Stoke, rather than 81 Fulham Rd, London.

The more modern Michelin maps for Great Britain are of a scale generally unsuited to present-day cycling conditions, but larger-scale maps are still produced for France and other continental countries.

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